Personal View looks back on 40 years of the Glasgow Coma Scale

A group of leading brain injury specialists look back on 40 years of the Glasgow Coma Scale and outline the continuing role of the scale in research and clinical practice, in a new Personal View published in The Lancet Neurology.

The Personal View is published on the 40th anniversary of the Glasgow Coma Scale's introduction in a 1974 Lancet article*. Since this seminal publication, the Glasgow Coma Scale has provided a practical method for bedside assessment of impairment of conscious level, the clinical hallmark of acute brain injury. The scale was designed to be easy to use in clinical practice in general and specialist units and to replace previous ill-defined and inconsistent methods. 40 years later, the Glasgow Coma Scale has become an integral part of clinical practice and research worldwide.

The paper's lead author is Professor Graham Teasdale, of the University of Glasgow, UK, one of the authors of the original paper introducing the scale. Professor Teasdale and colleagues examine the extent to which the original aspirations of the authors have been fulfilled, address some myths and misapprehensions about the scale, examine criticisms, and outline the continuing role of the scale in research and clinical practice.

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